1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to protective clothing.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Many types of protective clothing, for use in environments where a wearer may be exposed to fragments or bullets, are known. Efforts have been made to improve the performance of such armour against the effects of air blast (shock, or pressure, waves). However, no protective clothing has yet been developed which is truly effective against shock waves in air.
The effect of blast (which is the direct impact of a shock wave) on a person's body has two effects, namely gross deformation of the body and the transmission of a high velocity stress wave through the body tissue.
It has, in the past, been thought that the lung and bowel injury resulting from the shock wave was caused by deformation of the body, and the design of protective clothing has been based on this premise. It has now been discovered that, in fact, the main damage is caused by the direct coupling of shock waves into the body. This explains the fact that neither solid nor resilient protective clothing have been able to provide the expected protection. Solid clothing contacting a body allows direct transmission of pressure waves, and resilient material, such as foam, may well give an acoustic coupling effect which, as has been discovered, increases the internal injury.